Firefighters spray water at Grenfell Tower in west London on 14 June.
Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Firefighters’ capability to tackle devastating blazes such as the Grenfell Tower fire vary widely depending on where they are based in the UK, a union has said.

The different standards in how fire services can respond to life-threatening tower block fires is a “postcode lottery”, the Fire Brigades Union has said.

Differing levels of resources around the country mean that the numbers of fire engines that should automatically be sent to a fire varies greatly according to its location, according to FBU research.

Lack of equipment 'hampered Grenfell rescue effort'

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There are 125 aerial ladder/platform vehicles – with long ladders or platforms to reach fires in high buildings – in England, but only 33 of them are available around the clock because of a lack of fire crews, according to the figures.

Matt Wrack, the FBU general secretary and a former firefighter, described the findings as “extremely concerning” in light of the Grenfell Tower fire, and called tje situation “utterly unacceptable”.

He said: “We find it staggering that nothing has been done to address this grossly unjust postcode lottery of resources, and the fact that governments in all parts of the UK appear not to have even considered it is a disgrace.

“They now need to urgently instruct fire services to improve their fire-and-rescue planning, to ensure a full and professional response to such incidents all over the UK. Citizens everywhere need to feel safe and confident that those in authority are taking their safety seriously. Anything less is, frankly, obscene.”

Kent, Humberside and Nottinghamshire have just three fire engines and no aerial platforms ready for automatic dispatch, while Hampshire has eight fire engines and an aerial vehicle.

The FBU, which represents the majority of UK firefighters, also states that the size of a fire crew can also vary between four or five firefighters per fire engine.

Wrack has written to the prime minster, Theresa May, asking for an urgent review of firefighters’ resources. He wrote: “In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy at Grenfell Tower, we are aware that there are greatly differing standards and approaches adopted by different fire-and-rescue services across the country.

“We had hoped that one immediate response from central government would be to implement or establish an urgent review to ensure that the appropriate resources are available to firefighters attending such incidents in the future ... this appears not to have been done, which causes us concern and alarm.”

Some of the firefighters who attended the Grenfell Tower blaze said their response to the disaster was hindered by a lack of suitable equipment, low water pressure and radio problems.

Some of those present told a BBC Newsnight investigation that they had struggled to get through on their radios with vital messages because of an overuse of the system, as well as the difficulty of getting a signal through several floors of concrete.

According to the programme, a 30-metre-high aerial ladder did not arrive at the scene until more than half an hour after the first fire engines were dispatched.

Two-hundred firefighters responded using 40 engines and a range of specialist vehicles to the fire in west London that killed at least 80 people.